Dead Sea Rings io Machinery of Modern Age

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6625, 11 August 1931, Page 7

Dead Sea Rings io Machinery of Modern Age

POTASH WORKS RISE WHERE PILGRIMS TROD BEFORE

JERUSALEM, July 20.

The area of the Dead Sea concession to be used for the extraction of potash and other minerals from the brine is fast being turned from a desert scene visited only by pilgrims into a bustling industrial centre.

Progress has been conspicuous especially in tho mushroom growth of tho works since tho concession was signed on January 1, 1930, giving the Palestine Potash Company the right to operate for 75 years. About 350 labourers from Palestine and Trans-Jordan aie at present employed in construction works. Factories and drying eheds are almost completed. For its permanent staff the company has built concrete dwellings with all equipment especially adapted to a locality 1300 feet below sea level. It is expected that for a long time potash will bo the principal product of tho concessionaires. Tho company’s most difficult problem, when tho potash will bo available in large quantities, will be the method of transport. A road connecting tho Dead Sea with the Jerusalem-Jericho road is now under survey and, when constructed, will make it possible for a fleet of motor trucks to bring the potash to the Jerusalem railway station for further shipment by rail. When the production is sufficiently largo to warrant the expenditure,. the company plans to construct a single gauge railway from the Dea Sea to Beisan, through the Jordan Valley. A direct lino will then be available between the Dead Sea works and the port of Haifa, greatly reducing the cost of transport. The climate at the Dead Sea is dry and very hot. The meteorological station there reported 80 millimetres (about iin.) of rain during the year. For about eight months of the year the evaporation of sea water, the process by which the minerals are extracted, is effected by the natural heat of the sun.